Cornell student groups hold protest over handling of alleged frat-house gang rape

Protesters angry with authorities and 'Cornell 7'

Protesters say authorities were far too lenient with the so-called Cornell 7, the male students at this Ivy League school who allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in October 2024.

The woman, a former student herself and identified as Jane Doe in court filings, launched a civil lawsuit late last month detailing what she says she endured at the Chi Phi fraternity house that night.

That lawsuit and the graphic details of what Jane Doe relayed in her statement of claim is what renewed interest in this seemingly forgotten case, prompting intense media interest. 

Jane Doe says she was drugged with ketamine, left severely impaired and forced to submit to sex with multiple men at a drug- and alcohol-fuelled frat party gone horribly wrong. 

Group chat messages included in the suit show some fraternity members involved in the assault alerted others at 1:42 a.m. on Oct. 20 to what was going on with Jane Doe.

One message said there was "free" sex to be had in a room upstairs at the frat house.

Later, one fraternity member asked the group chat, "Shop still open?" 

The response: "Yea."

What followed was, allegedly, a disturbing series of events with Jane Doe saying the men performed non-consensual sexual acts, used drugs off her body or acted as voyeurs while she was in a state of what the lawsuit describes as "vague consciousness." Jane Doe also says she was physically hit during the traumatic incident.

The assault reportedly lasted until about 6:00 a.m. 

After contracting a urinary tract infection and seeking medical care for what she experienced that night, Jane Doe went to the on-campus Cornell police to report the assault.

The university itself probed what happened at the fraternity. The Tompkins County District Attorney's Office also investigated her claims. 

But the men in question were never criminally charged.